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Big black eyes slowly blink open as the baby swaddled inside their makeshift nest of green silk woke up. The baby in question was probably only a year old as he yawned silently and sleepily took in his surroundings. Near his makeshift bed, four adults appeared to be whisper-shouting at each other. There was a pretty man with a ponytail in blue, an animated woman dressed in purple, a smaller mousy man in yellow, and a concerned looking man with a mustache standing in the middle of the group. They all were very involved in whatever discussion they were having and didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the now-awake infant.
Shen Yuan stared at the adults for a while before turning his attention to the bright blue screen hovering above him. There were a lot of squiggly lines and some pictures of funny faces on it. Shen Yuan valiantly waved his chubby baby arms at it, but could not quite reach. He did think the light was very pretty, but grew bored when he couldn’t reach it. He puffed out his cheeks in frustration before trying to find something else to play with.
His eyes roamed back towards the adults in the room, who were still making a lot of noise and gesturing towards something on the big table in the room. They were still not paying any attention to Shen Yuan, so he continued glancing around the ornate room. There was a long table with twelve seats and several large decorations and paintings. Even though he had just woken up, he was decidedly bored since no one was paying him any attention. He was debating if he should start investigating some of the shinier objects on the room up close.
Suddenly, he caught sight of movement towards a slightly ajar door near him at the end of the room. There was a small lizard that had stepped in from outside, and Shen Yuan was instantly enamored. He began to roll over, having to wiggle a little to free himself from the cloth. Now naked and mobile, he began crawling his way over to the door to get a better look at the lizard. Following the lizard outside, he didn’t even notice the hall door closing silently behind him. He fearlessly crawled into the outside world consumed with the thought that he was going to get to play with a lizard today.
If little Shen Yuan had currently been an adult who was obsessed with Proud Immortal Demon Way, he would have been able to identify the little creature as a Leafy Backed Rhinoceros Newt. This species had green leaf-like appendages on their back for camouflage and a single horn on its nose. Adult Shen Yuan would also know that the newt was completely harmless, which was fortunate for baby Shen Yuan who crawled after it hoping to make a new friend. The sun was warm and their was a gentle breeze as he did he best to keep up.
Following the little newt, little Shen Yuan ended up crawling through some bushes that surrounded the hall. Shen Yuan felt the leaves above him tickling him as he crawled under the foliage. The sensation made him huff with laughter. Suddenly, the newt disappeared downwards, and Shen Yuan hurried forward to find it. However, as he approached where the newt went the ground sloped down and Shen Yuan rolled down the hill through a patch of tall grass. He came to a stop on a patch of soft grass and springy moss as he sniffled in shock. He wasn’t hurt, but the tumble had surprised him. Just as his eyes started to water up, he became distracted all the flowers surrounding him. Curious, he blinked the tears back and took in the sights around him.
Shen Yuan wiggled on his back, enjoying the sensation as he took in all the beautiful colors. Swaying above him in the breeze were the pale pink blooms of Tranquility Bell Lilies. Behind those as a border to the garden was Shimmering Ocean Grass. As the blue grass swayed it gave off the impression of ocean waves rolling in at a lazy pace. Finally, in a riot of pastel colors, bloomed Serendipity Snapdragons. These flowers were named after the fact that the blooms themselves resembled tiny dragon heads. The peaceful view was accompanied by the soothing sounds of a nearby water feature bubbling away and people yelling frantically in the background. Shen Yuan let out a tiny enthusiastic giggle. He decided that he liked this new place a lot, even if getting here was a little scary.
Adult Shen Yuan appreciated the Qiong Ding peak’s meditative gardens for their restful atmosphere and their gently ambient qi. Baby Shen Yuan, however, was fascinated by the colors and shapes around him and found himself wondering how they might taste. In his wise opinion, the pretty pink bell-shaped lilies that tinkled quietly like their name-sake would be the most delicious. (This was not a good opinion as the Tranquility Bell Lilies were toxic to humans. The Serendipity Snapdragons would have been a better choice even if their flavor was a little peppery.) He was considering the effort it would take to get his little baby fists on some of those blooms when a man wearing a set of black robes with silver accents came up behind him. The man was frowning, but didn't seem like he was angry. Shen Yuan wondered if this stranger would help him gather some of the flowers to taste.
Moments later he was airborne, and the man had quickly tucked him inside of his warm robes. Shen Yuan gazed up at this interesting person, who seemed to be alternating between staring at Shen Yuan and glancing around the garden. The man was cradling him close to his chest, and Shen Yuan was feeling much warmer now surrounded by fabric and the man’s body heat. He let out a yawn, realizing he had been slightly chilled before. Now that he was warm again he was getting sleepy. Overall, he was feeling worn out from all the crawling he did earlier. Shen Yuan felt very safe cradled in the man’s arms, and decided that this was probably a good person even if he didn't get any flowers. Nodding to himself decisively, Shen Yuan gently reached up and patted the man’s face in order to show his warm regard. He snuggled himself closer and felt himself start to drift off to sleep as gentle fingers stroked down the side of his face. Maybe this nice man would be willing to play with him later when he finished his nap.
Yue Qingyuan was very concerned as he walked up the steps to the Qiong Ding meeting hall as per Mu Qingfang’s request. The doctor had alerted him to the fact that Shen Qingqiu had experienced a mishap on a mission, and while the man was fine he was experiencing a rather unusual side-effect from an artifact he had been exposed to. He was hurrying in a dignified manner (power walking), when he heard a soft rustling coming from one of the meditation gardens that dotted his peak. He was going to ignore it, after all there is plenty of wildlife on the mountain, but then he heard the sound of a child’s laughter. There should not be any young children on his peak, so he reluctantly went to investigate the noise. Afterwards, he would continue to his Xiao- his shidi’s side.
Imagine his surprise to find a literal infant naked and rolling around the grass in the garden. The sight was so shocking that Yue Qingyuan did not consciously register it as he picked up the baby and tucked him away in his own robes. This little child felt very familiar to him, even though he could not place where he might have seen the infant before. He couldn’t very well leave such a young child unattended, and glanced down as the young boy blew spit bubbles with a look of deep contemplation on his face. The sight of it brought a smile to Yue Qingyuan’s face as he tried to locate anyone who might have been attending the baby. He was quite concerned by the fact the baby seemed alone. He was broken out of his thoughts as tiny soft hands patted at his face. He looked down and visibly softened at the sight of the sweet yawning baby snuggling closer to him. He gently stroked the infant’s face as they fell asleep, smiling softly to himself.
Walking very carefully, as to not disturb his sleeping charge, Yue Qingyuan made his way to the Peak Lord Meeting Hall. He had been hearing a lot of frantic sounds for a while now, and decided to cover the little sleeping ears as they drew nearer. As he opened the door, he was greeted by the strange sight of four of his martial siblings in disarray. They seemed to be hysterically searching the hall high and low calling for Shen Qingqiu. He registered the pile of green silk on the floor that could only be his shidi’s robes.
The four seemed to have abandoned all dignity in their panic. Liu Qingge was searching inside a large decorative vase for some reason while Qi Qinqqi was checking behind flower pots.Both Mu Qingfang and Shang Qinghua were crawling on their knees checking under the table calling for Shen Qingqiu. Yue Qingyuan stood bewildered as he subconsciously cradled his little charge closer at this strange sight.
“What is going on here?” He finally addressed the room.
From under the table, Shang Qinghua wailed, “We lost baby Shen-shixiong! We have to find him before he hurts himself or Zhangmen-shixiong arrives and hurts us!”
There was a beat of silence and then a flurry of movement. Shang Qinghua audibly smacked his head on the underside of the table and Liu Qingge knocked over the vase he had been searching. The vase shattered as it hit the floor. Mu Qingfang and Qi Qingqi managed to face him with less collateral damage, but their scrambled search had left them quite disheveled.
“Zhangmen-shixiong!?” came four voices in various tones of distress.
Yue Qingyuan took a moment to observe the states of his marital siblings as pieces were beginning to fall into place for him on what may have happened, “What is this about Shen Qingqiu and a baby?”
Mu Qingfang stepped forward with a sigh as his shoulders slumped, “While on a mission with Liu-shidi, it seems that Shen-shixiong came in contact with a previously unidentified artifact. This turned out to be the Medallion Of Innocence.” He gestured to the jade medallion with a gold trim on the table. “This has temporarily reverted Shen-shixiong into an infant both physically and mentally for the time being. The effects should only last for a day, however it seems we have somehow, misplaced-”
Mu Qingfang guilty trailed off just as the small lump in Yue Qingyuan’s robes began to move. Little Shen Qingqiu had stretched out his limbs in his sleep before snuggling back in.
Yue Qingyuan smiled at his actions, but his eyes grew several degrees colder as he regarded his martial siblings. He gently rearranged his robes so that the infant became visible to the group.
“Oh, thank god you found him!” Shang Qinghua heaved a sigh of relief.
“Yes, this one found our small wayward martial brother in one of the meditation gardens down the peak .” His smile was frosty and the four in front of him felt a chill run down their spines. “It seems that little Shen-shidi somehow made it outside on your watch, but traveled quite the distance away. This one found him dirty, naked, and all alone. Would any of you care to explain how that came to be despite four of his martial siblings supposedly watching him?”
They all withered under that cold gaze, somehow not made any less terrifying by the adorable child he was cradling. They all quietly faced their overprotective sect leader, with a known soft spot for Shen Qingqiu, and could not come up with any answers for him. None of them had any idea how the baby got out of the sealed Meeting Hall after all.
Shang Qinghua mentally lamented at the budget cuts that were absolutely going to come down on their peaks at minimum. There was just no way this would end well for them.